What I hate about the Super Bowl

Maybe the word “strongly dislikes” fits in a bit better but to tell you the truth as an avid football fan and fan of the National Football League there are major pet peeves I have with the entire performance of what is now a very big event. Here in no particular order are things that grate me when it comes to the Super Bowl, or Super Bowl week leading up to the game:

The Super Bowl parties – Honestly, I love them, I’ve been to many of them with friends and I can always count on the person’s home I am going to that they are into the game as much as I am. I love the “football food” and the camaraderie and the anticipation. The issue I have is that I can’t control at other people’s homes who they invite. I love to talk the NFL with someone else, but the people that bother me are the ones who aren’t fans of the game as it is. The people who say they are only watching the game to “see the commercials” irritate me. Have fun and all, watch the commercials that cost an arm and a leg for the sponsors but don’t dare sit near me because I didn’t watch the NFL for 5 months every week to hear an uninformed person ask what the name of the quarterback is on the “blue team.”
Basically you ruin the atmosphere and the mood when that happens. I want to converse with a person who saw the entire playoffs, or who hates the Patriots or Cowboys as much as I do. When I was growing up my sister, never someone interested in sports to begin with, would always walk into the living room during an important game and ask who was going to win the “World Series?” She never matched up the championship event with the sport that was playing. I hated that because it ruined the atmosphere and it hasn’t changed as an adult. I’ll go to a Super Bowl party but I’ve been to one with 50 people and I learn very quickly which ones are there because it is trendy and which ones are there because they actually care about the outcome.

The Anthem singer – I’m not the disrespectful type who shuns the American national anthem but I’m not interested in your audition for American Idol. In 1982 Diana Ross performed the anthem to open the Super Bowl and that was more or less the beginning of celebrities taking over from the normal marching bands that were doing it. That’s fine and all, but don’t overdo it like Christina Aguilera either.

The Super Bowl week with the media – When the players arrive about a week or so before the game the media goes nuts. They’ve got time with the players now and the speculation and ridiculous stories enhanced are numerous. This means there is more time for trash talking among opponents and more things the media will be pestering you about than usual. In 2011 Ben Roethlisberger was criticized because he was seen out late at a bar one night. This was his third trip to the Super Bowl and he already had the reputation of being a wild one off the field as it was then.
To me this is irrelevant. It just stirs up the pot within teams and I personally stay away from all of the over-analysis the week leading up to the game. Some of the topics are non-sensical too like when Troy Polamalu was asked about his famous hair. To me it is just a bunch of pointless things the media can drum up and we have to wait a couple weeks in between for the big game as it is.

The extra week – I’ve been watching the NFL since September every week and there hasn’t been a Sunday a game hasn’t been on since then. I understand it is the biggest game of the year and there is a lot of money to be made from this event and such but one week of anticipation is enough let alone two. I say keep the momentum going and play the week after.

The Halftime Show – It used to be simple prior to 1993 or so. Just a simple marching band from across America putting on a show, filling in some time. In 1993 Michael Jackson performed and that success started what we see today. It was another way to make the Super Bowl a bigger “event” rather than just a game. Fast forward to 2004 with the whole “wardrobe malfunction” from Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Here is what bothers me about this incident. It was a huge news item. Everyone remembers seeing this and it got people talking. Ask 10 people and they’ll remember where they were when they saw this, however maybe one of them will remember who was actually playing during that game.
I’ll tell you who was playing, the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers played in one of the greatest Super Bowls in NFL history. It was a great game, New England won 32-29 thanks to kicker Adam Vinatieri’s field goal at the end. You don’t always get a close game in the Super Bowl but this one was one of those games and the sad thing is no one remembers it.
Since then I have loathed the half-time show at the Super Bowl because it is just an attention grab and it takes attention away from the reason I am watching it, which is the actual outcome of the football game. The half-time show is a good time for me to grab something else to eat or drink or use the bathroom wherever I am because I could care less about who is trying to do something controversial on stage or not. A real NFL fan doesn’t care about this, they care that the score of the game is 24-21.

So in conclusion there is my list of things that bother me during the Super Bowl event. I realize this is a big money making opportunity and with the price of a ticket these days they constantly have to find ways to entertain people. I could do without it personally, I think the biggest game you are going to watch all year is good enough and as far as I am concerned a player’s legacy can be built or broken with this game as it is, so I don’t need another reason to tune in. Katy Perry will be providing the half-time experience in 2015. Let me know how that goes, because I won’t bother watching it just to see another wardrobe malfunction or something else that makes everyone talk about Katy rather than the names we’re used to like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers to name a few. My priority is the outcome of the game, not any other nonsense.